Separation of Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter
Date: 11 March 2018
Satellite: BepiColombo
Copyright: spacecraft: ESA/ATG medialab; Mercury: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Artist's impression showing the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter being ejected from the Mercury Planetary Orbiter. The module is spun up by the ejection. The sunshield structure remains attached to the Mercury Planetary Orbiter during this operation, and is ejected later.
BepiColombo is a joint endeavour between ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA.
The view of Mercury is based on imagery from NASA's Messenger mission.
Last Update: 1 September 2019
